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  1. morsekathan

    ISO coop in Maryland, DMV area

    I'm in Prince George's county, Maryland looking for a coop. Maybe someone is ready to pass one on? It must be big enough for 5 - 8 hens.
  2. morsekathan

    Chicken oddities: what’s something you wish your chicken/chickens didn’t do?

    This is my peeve. At this time, none are laying in the nest boxes - I only have 7, but still, not one could be bothered with the nest boxes. currently, we have "the nest box chair" on the porch, under the porch couch and under the deck as favorite places. In the past, they have laid on the bed...
  3. morsekathan

    Review by 'morsekathan' in article 'Chicken Math 101 – with Quiz!'

    Because you can never have less than 5 stars! And if each of the stars has a name - like brilliant, funny, entertaining, truer words were never said, and OMG - then that star counts as three and that makes 15 - Rating math! I'm up to two chickens I think. I just got 5 chicks for my broody hen...
  4. morsekathan

    Will my Broody Hen accept store bought chickens?

    I've only done this once, but it went really smoothly. I slipped the chicks under the mom at night and she woke up all excited "virgin birth!" I put her in her own little brooder, it was in the run, but separated from the other hens by fence. That also allowed me to feed the chicks medicated...
  5. morsekathan

    Review by 'morsekathan' in article 'Keeping Chickens Without Free Ranging'

    Great ideas - and if I may, people should apply some of these things to their brooders. Baby chicks need stuff to play with and places to explore. It's so sad to me to see big brooders with nothing for the chicks to do! We always put in logs and sticks. Hay is a great idea too.
  6. morsekathan

    Hard poop encrusted on butt fluff, what should I do?

    i just give my hens baths when they have poop balls stuck to their butt. They love the baths. I actually found this thread by searching on poopy butts because I wanted to see if there was anything else. But it seems pretty common and normal and I've had this with other chickens, so I'll just...
  7. morsekathan

    Comment by 'morsekathan' in article 'Top 10 Best Egg Producing Chicken Breeds'

    This is my feeling too. My production hens laid an egg everyday and then dropped dead at 2 years. They are bred to lay without any consideration on what takes out of them. I don't have them anymore. It broke my heart to see them give their all at that cost.
  8. morsekathan

    Review by 'morsekathan' in article 'Top 10 Best Egg Producing Chicken Breeds'

    Nice article, but what it doesn't address is how long these breeds live. We found that every one of our sex linked died around 2 years. Just dropped dead. We had several die within a short period, and I had a necropsy done on one. She was all tumor. I think these breeds are just breed to be...
  9. morsekathan

    MARYLAND THREAD!

    I would love to provide a home for these hens. I'm not sure how to email you directly, but I'm at morsekathan at gmail dot com. I have 4 spoiled hens living the life of Riley in my backyard and sometime in my house because they have figured out the dog door!
  10. morsekathan

    Is it me or is having chickens complicated?

    I have had a lot of predators but never had a hen kill her sister hens. I just don't' believe they would do so, and some of my hens are super mean to the other ladies. And yes, it's a little work to raise hens, but worth it. I'm so envious that yours snuggle you. I've only had one if lots...
  11. morsekathan

    What do you recommend?

    I have a converted playhouse coop and a big covered run. My hens are locked in the coop at night and I have hardware cloth over the windows (it has three windows). That is an expense I would not skimp on. I also put plexiglass storms on the windows in the winter. The hens appreciate it...
  12. morsekathan

    Can you make spicy eggs, by feeding your hens chili?

    Some people feed them marigold petals to make the yolks a deeper yellow and I once read an article where the henkeeper experimented with different amounts of cayenne to get deeper color yolks. Her customers preferred the eggs with deep colored yolks. She had a whole page of results!
  13. morsekathan

    My First eggs

    Oh yes. I tried that but it took me so long to teach them their names that they all decided to lay under the porch instead. :hit
  14. morsekathan

    Silly hen not roosting

    I have several hens who are perfectly ok who prefer the nest box to roosting. I personally wish they would roost as the nest box gets pretty poopy, but turns out I'm not in charge in the hen house! If I were, everyone would be much better behaved :wee
  15. morsekathan

    They've all gone mad! Whole flock broody!

    My hens never leave the nest box when they go broody and they don't have eggs to sit on either! Because, as we all know, there is only one "good" nest box, the other hens squish in to lay, but I take the eggs away. So, I can verify that no eggs are needed for a hen to sit and sit and sit. We...
  16. morsekathan

    Comment by 'morsekathan' in article 'Chicken Math 101 – with Quiz!'

    LOL - but you forgot one hugely important proof - hens that no longer lay. They don't count at all. In fact, only chickens that lay consistently count. That is why I only have 2 despite my husband, who is super bad at all things math, insisting we have 8. Really Honey, if we had 8 hens...
  17. morsekathan

    Official BYC Poll: What Is Your Least Favorite Thing About Keeping Chickens?

    I voted "nothing, I love every thing", but actually I don't like broody hens! I feel bad that I can't fulfill their desire to be mothers, and I am annoyed that they hog the "good nest" box, every single time and every one of them. So, I am changing my vote to "dealing with broody hens"!
  18. morsekathan

    Patience, patience, patience. They will work it out. But it will take time - 6 or more weeks...

    Patience, patience, patience. They will work it out. But it will take time - 6 or more weeks is my experience! I did have to get rid of a hen because she was just too mean. Once she was gone, the flock worked it out. But mostly, they work it out. My hens free range though and have plenty...
  19. morsekathan

    Clean Coop=Clean Nest=Clean Eggs That Don't Need Washing

    I don't, as a rule, wash my eggs, not in 10 years of chicken keeping. Sometimes an egg will be poopy or have a little something stuck to it, then I wash it, but that's a rare egg - maybe 1 or 2 a month. Occasionally a hen will lay on the floor of the coop and that egg is usually not that...
  20. morsekathan

    Cicada Brood X coming!

    The cicadas are here in Montgomery County MD and super loud. My girls have stopped laying this week so I'm wondering if the noise is getting to them. As for other cicada questions - they eat them like crazy, running out from their coop in the AM to feast in the bushes.
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